On the 4th of September, SLA Europe hosted a panel discussion on the FT/SLA Survey. The panellist were Sarah Farhi (Allen & Overy), Janice LaChance (SLA) and Stephen Phillips (Morgan Stanley) and they discussed the survey’s 12 Action points with examples from their own experience. Watch the discussion in full below.

The event was kindly sponsored by the FT and hosted at Morgan Stanley, who also provided the video recording facility. Our many thanks to them.

1 comment on “Video: The Evolving Value of Information Management”

Thank you for the very interesting and relevant report and subsequent blog posts and video.
Of the 12 tasks for IPs, changing your mindset and being out of your comfort zone is to me perhaps the most difficult challenge to overcome. Whether it be understanding the company finances, being able to influence corporate decisions or working your way to C-suite/Executive level.
Whilst we are good an acquiring new skills and expertise, these mostly involve the ‘soft’ skills that do not come easily to everyone. Influencing decision-makers, users and stakeholders requires confidence, gravitas, credibility and authority. It needs a change in our own attitudes, beliefs and assumptions (aka organisational culture) about our profession. Only then will we be able to contribute to changing the culture of the organisation to one which values, uses and manages information in the most effective way.
I am currently working on organisational cultures and how we need to identify, measure, manage and change cultures in order to ensure that we align the culture with the organisation’s strategy, so this report is very timely.
The need to run the information service as a business in itself is implied in the report, but one which could be articulated more, as Stephen Phillips mentioned. This includes researching and segmenting your market and developing products or services that meet the customers’ differing/changing needs (rather than your perceptions of what they need), looking at the external environment, including competitors and collaborators, and evaluating the success or value of the ‘business’.
Let’s hope we can rise to the challenges and continue to embrace this encouraging future for IPs.